Nansheng Kiln and "Clark" Porcelain

The Nansheng kiln site emerged in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and was a large-scale and influential folk kiln in the southeastern coastal area of China at that time. The porcelain produced by it is widely exported overseas and has been found in large quantities in East Asia, Southeast Asia, West Asia, Africa, and Europe. As an important folk kiln site in the southeastern coastal region of China during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the Nansheng kiln site represents the pinnacle of early porcelain making techniques in the Zhangzhou kiln system. Archaeologists have discovered that the blue and white porcelain and South China tri colored porcelain produced here were exported to Southeast Asia, West Asia, Africa, and Europe through the "Maritime Silk Road" and were highly favored by overseas markets.

The blue and white porcelain captured by the Dutch East India Company on the Clark ship, as well as the Clark porcelain unearthed from sunken ship sites such as the San Diego ship in the Philippines and the White Lion ship in Africa, have been confirmed to be highly related to the products of the Nansheng kiln site. This discovery fills a historical gap and reveals the historical position of Nansheng Kiln as a global hub for ceramic trade.

Due to the rarity of collections in China in the past, its origin was once a mystery, but it was later confirmed through archaeological research to be Pinghe Nansheng Kiln. Kiln sites are widely distributed, covering various towns and surrounding counties in Pinghe County. Among them, six kiln sites located in Nansheng and Wuzhai were listed as the sixth batch of national key cultural relics protection units in 2006. Since then, they have been successively selected for the World Cultural Heritage Preparatory List and the first batch of "Maritime Silk Road · Chinese Historical Sites" heritage sites.

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